After the favored concubine remarried, the aloof and powerful minister forcibly took her away.

Chapter 22 Choosing a New Bride for the Eldest Young Master

Xiang Ning lowered her eyes, blinked lightly, and tears dripped onto the ground.

"Then punish me, sir. I have disgraced you."

Of course she knew that if she cried too much, it would annoy Pei Yanzhi.

Sometimes, however, Xiang Ning could see a hint of interest in Pei Yanzhi's eyes when she cried.

Even just a little bit is enough.

That means he wasn't annoyed by her tears; on the contrary, they were a novel experience for him.

Why should I punish you?

Pei Yanzhi changed his sitting posture, crossing his legs, and his somewhat loose robe became a little looser, revealing his skin.

Xiang Ning didn't look up, but she felt his gaze fall on her again.

"If I am ever bullied in the future, I must fight back fiercely, because the master has no need for useless people."

After saying this, Xiang Ning looked up at Pei Yanzhi, her eyes filled with shyness and timidity: "Your Excellency is my source of confidence and support."

As Pei Yanzhi listened to Xiang Ning's words, one after another, the corners of his lips curved slightly.

Regardless of Xiang Ning's sincerity, her words alone are quite comforting.

She's quite adept at coaxing people.

"Go down."

Pei Yanzhi didn't say anything more, only telling Xiang Ning to leave.

She stood up, walked to Pei Yanzhi's side, reached out and tugged at his sleeve, tilting her head to ask, "Then, Master, you won't send this servant away, will you?"

Pei Yanzhi slightly raised his eyes and looked at her downward gaze.

"If you can do that, you can stay here."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Ning smiled faintly and released her grip on Pei Yanzhi's sleeve.

"This servant will go fetch water for the master."

With those words from him, Xiang Ning knew that her words had resonated with him.

Xiang Ning hadn't planned to tell Pei Yanzhi about the burns; she wanted him to discover it himself.

Some things have a different meaning when they come out of her mouth versus when Pei Yanzhi discovers them on his own.

Xiang Ning didn't want to leave any bad impression on Pei Yanzhi.

Before she was sure she could leave the Pei family, she just wanted to live a peaceful life.

She sighed silently. In the past three years, she had rarely left the Pei residence. By now, those people should no longer be in the capital.

My monthly allowance is due in two days, so I can take this opportunity to go out and have a look around.

Thinking about this, Xiang Ning served Pei Yanzhi his meal and then saw him off at the Pei residence before going to find Granny Xu.

Granny Xu occasionally goes out to buy groceries, so it's the perfect place to ask her for information.

"You're leaving the manor? Will Bitao come with you?"

Granny Xu asked a question, and Xiang Ning nodded: "Let's go out together. We haven't been out for a long time, and we want to buy some things."

Do you know where the prices for embroidery are the fairest?

Upon hearing Xiang Ning's question, Granny Xu thought for a moment and said, "There's an embroidery shop on Ping Shun Street that sells embroidery at the fairest prices. With your excellent skills, you should be able to get a good price."

Hearing what Granny Xu said, Xiang Ning smiled and nodded slightly.

"Then thank you very much, Madam Xu."

After saying that, Granny Xu waved her hand to indicate that it was nothing, and then Xiang Ning turned and left. She had calculated her money beforehand, and in the past three years, she had hardly spent any money and had saved almost all of it.

However, he was still short half the money to redeem himself.

So Xiang Ning thought of selling some embroidery to earn money, since Pei Yanzhi wasn't home during the day and she had time.

However, her needlework was taught by her mother, and Xiang Ning was afraid of being recognized, so she had to go and find out first.

At this moment, in the center of Ningfu Residence, Old Madam Pei sat in the seat of honor, with Madam Pei the First and Madam Pei the Second sitting below her.

Both of them held a cup of tea in their hands, watching Madam Pei without making a sound.

With a flicker of his eyes, it was as if he had already said countless words.

"I was sick a while ago, and my uncle didn't tell me anything about things in the mansion so that I could rest and recover properly."

Madam Pei took a sip of tea and spoke in a calm tone.

Madam Pei, Qin Bijun, and Madam Pei, Dong Yan, remained silent, waiting for the old lady's next words.

"Now that I am fully recovered, the custom of paying respects to my parents morning and evening should be re-established. After all, our Pei family is a scholarly family, and we cannot abandon our rules."

"However, there is one more reason why I have kept you here today."

At this point, Madam Pei put down her teacup and looked at Qin Bijun.

“In a few days, it will be Princess Huihe’s birthday. Our Pei family has naturally received an invitation. Prince Qing dotes on his youngest daughter, and all the dignitaries in the capital will be attending.”

"Yanzhi and Yongcheng have both reached the age to get married."

Madam Pei turned her gaze to Dong Yan, then stopped speaking abruptly.

Although Pei Yongcheng was a playboy with a bad reputation in the capital, he was still a descendant of the Pei family.

If the eldest brother is capable, as long as he doesn't want to marry a princess and instead marries a county princess, then marriage is still possible even if he looks to the next generation.

"Does Mother mean that she wants Yan Zhitong and Princess Hui to be together?"

Qin Bijun said something, but Old Madam Pei shook her head: "The princess has a noble status and is involved in too many conflicts of interest. Yan Zhi is now working for the Empress Dowager. Such a marriage alliance is not acceptable."

"I'm not feeling well and can't go that day. You two should take your children with you and make sure you don't disgrace the Pei family."

After saying this to her two daughters-in-law, Madam Pei told Dong Yan to get up and go back first.

“Bijun, I know that you’ve been holding a grudge all these years, but so much time has passed, you have to let it go.”

“You are Yanzhi’s mother. Don’t just care about what position he holds now and what kind of face he brings you. You should care more about the things around him.”

Madam Pei turned to Qin Bijun and said something. Judging from Qin Bijun's indifferent expression, Madam Pei knew that Qin Bijun hadn't taken her words to heart.

She sighed helplessly. She couldn't blame Pei Yanzhi for not being close to her; back then, they were such young children…

"The one I'm interested in is the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, named Wen Caifu. Madam Wen will be taking her to Princess Huihe's birthday banquet. You can talk to the Wen family then."

After the old lady finished giving her instructions, Qin Bijun nodded in agreement.

She turned her head away and waved for Qin Bijun to leave.

"Look at her, she doesn't care at all about the big and small things in the Pei family."

Watching Qin Bijun's retreating figure, Old Madam Pei was so angry that she almost fainted.

Madam Kang, who was standing nearby, quickly went over to comfort her: "Don't worry, Madam. With you taking care of our young master, when he gets married, he will naturally have a new bride to take care of him."

As for Madam Pei, who is unwilling to meddle in anything for fear of getting tainted by the filth of the world, if she still cannot see reality, she will probably only drift further and further away from her husband and son.

"How many more years do I have left to live? Why can't she let go of this? I was really blind back then to choose her as my wife for my husband. I thought that the Qin family was a scholarly family, and even if their daughter was not very good, she wouldn't be too bad."

Who would have thought that such a distinguished family would make things difficult for themselves?

(End of this chapter)